Monday, April 6th, 2009

21st Century Digital Boy: Adapt, Migrate, or Die — “ER,” “Guiding Light,” and “Life on Mars”

by Peter Chakerian

450guidinglightprint20051After 15 big red-letter seasons, NBC’s ER came to an end on Thursday night, earning its largest audience in nearly three years—some 16.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen estimates. This audience represents the largest showing for a dramatic series finale since CBS’s Murder, She Wrote ended back in 1996.

The two-hour finale of the long-running, ensemble medical drama was informed by the real-life tragedy of Shelby Lyn Allen, a 17-year-old Redding, California, native who died of alcohol poisoning in December.

I won’t spoil the details (mainly because NBC continues to repeat the finale for those who missed it), but suffice it to say it capped the end of an era in more ways than one. Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) opening his brand-new medical facility in Chicago for the less fortunate was the new beginning at the end of ER; the question is, where might a Wyle-anchored spin-off end up in this day and age, if at all?

ER’s finale wasn’t just the end of an era for the Peacock’s 10 PM drama slot, which surrenders to Jay Leno’s new weeknight prime-time show in the fall. It also appears to be the front end of a trend to come: where more high-impact network dramas adapt to new delivery methods, migrate to cable, or die on the vine for affordability reasons.

That “adapt, migrate, or die” thought was an interesting one to ponder in the context of television. That’s how ecologists describe options for a species when a “forcing function” like climate change is looming . It’s a perfect parallel for TV in the 21st century: programming decisions are increasingly met by forcing function(s) like the down economy, rising production costs, varying delivery technologies, wider battles for smaller audiences and so on.

How else can one explain the end of Guiding Light—the longest running show in broadcasting history— which will cancel on CBS after a monumental run? The archetypical “soap opera” was a staple for Procter & Gamble to “peddle” household cleaning products and sundries to women. P&G’s people are changing with the times; they’re thinking about web portal content with original digital material to connect with increasingly wired homes (and moms). They’re certainly not the only ones.

And lastly, speaking of digital, the brain robots in the second-to-last Life on Mars (ABC) really had me thrown—especially when yours truly had it figured as the last episode. Serves me right for paying more attention to my NCAA brackets than the TV guide lately. Or perhaps I was having my own weird, asteroid-interrupted dream involving Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli. I know, TMI.

Ahem. Anyway, I never had Mars pegged for a sci-fi, 2001:A Space Odyssey-meets-Mission to Mars that it revealed itself to be. It all made me wish this freshman show had carried on. I didn’t figure Gene was Sam’s dad or that they had all been asleep during a two-year Mars mission. I couldn’t have imagined that what we were following were “neurological simulations” that were warped by faulty tech after an asteroid shower.

The only thing missing? The HAL-9000.

One thing is certain after this week: none of us are going to wake up to television like in 1973 (or 1975, to honor my One Day at a Time daydream) anytime soon.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under 21st Century Digital Boy, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • I was really starting to enjoy Life on Mars. It didn't hold a candle to the British original, but it was interesting in its own way. I was disappointed when I heard about the cancellation. That said, I think the finale was absurd, and had nothing to do with the way brilliant ending of the original series. It was almost as if the producers said, "oh yeah, you want to cancel us? We'll show you," and came up with the most outrageous ending they could think of.
  • Malchus
    I thought the ER finale was excellent. The Stamos storyline with the drunk teenager was very effective and that scene where he put his phone number in his daughter's phone under "Help" was very moving.
  • Elaine
    IMO you're slightly off on the Guiding Light problems. Ostensibly, and I'm sure truthfully, they cut back production costs several years ago.. moving to handheld digital cameras (I'm not kidding) and tons of outdoor location (AKA free) shots. The show literally looks like a college project. Tune and and have a look while you still can. If that wasn't bad enough, though, the writing has gotten so bad it's nearly unwatchable for that alone. So, the underlying structural reasons might be the same, but the viewers turned away in droves because they were freaking insulted, if you ask me.

    I'll miss ER. I was one of those suckers who watched every season from "Love's Labors Lost" on (and most episodes before that, too). Could have done without the two-hour endless line of PSA's as the last episode, but I can't say I'm surprised either. It was a hallmark of the show, after all. Preach, preach preach. All in all I found the finale underwhelming, but again, not surprisingly so.

    Life on Mars was great! Til the last episode. I dunno. It ended, so, "how" really doesn't make that much difference to me. It sure was nice having a show with Harvey, O'Mara & Imperioli. EVERY show on TV could use that. But I have to say, I was disappointed at not getting to see a reunion between Sam and Lisa Bonet.
  • sarah
    ADAPT! That is the key. GL cut production costs and is the cheapest soap being shown on broadcast. Problem is all soaps are too expensive for the audiences that are only fractions of what they were 20 years ago. I have grown to like the outdoor feel - real moonlit shots, snow falling, etc. Ironically, the show has its best storyline in decades coming up with the Olivia/Natalia/Frank triangle. With some trimming and a smooth transition, this show could continue to make money for P&G AND entertain both new and lifelong fans.

    While ER was a quality show...I found myself forgetting it was still on.
  • Elaine
    To each his own, I guess. What is the viewership of Young and the Restless (soap rated #1 for years)?
  • sarah
    Y&R has about 5 million viewers, about 1.5 million more than any other soap. Its the only one with any future. As the World Turns and AMC only have a couple hundred thousand more viewers than GL and much higher production budgets.

    To put it into more perspective, Gossip girl has 2 million viewers once per week for how many weeks a year? GL has 2 million per day, 5 days a week for over 200 epis a year. There is still a way to profit from this with some tweaking. PLUS P&G owns it and only needs to break even on the production since they use the program to advertise their products (check out the placement of Pringles, Tide, etc).

    I just don't want to see networks give up on storytelling that will keep a loyal audience and turn to more "filler" programming of talk, judges, game formats. Its further cheapening their branding. The top "broadcast" networks are slipping.
blog comments powered by Disqus